I had a bunch of friends who were fishing in Iceland while I was watching this DVD (again) to review it. The DVD did undeniably make me a bit and envious. Because the quality of the Icelandic fishing as shown on Nick Reygaert's latest video is just fantastic! And thinking that four of my best fishing friends were feasting on this as I was locked to a computer monitor working was not reassuring.

But reality is (and was for my four friends) that fishing rarely is as good as seen in a fishing DVD like this, and that the week they had up there came nowhere near the scenes we see in Nick's DVD.
Such is life...
I have been to Iceland a couple of times, and even though I have had some world class fishing up there, I have also experienced dull days, storm and rain, and totally blown out blue ribbon waters. When you have a few days or a week, the risk is there, while a longer period will give you a lot better chances of being able to experience what we see here.
There's nothing wrong with that, min you, but when watching these fantastic DVD's one should just remember that they are the result of long periods of intense traveling, fishing and filming. The traveling anglers life isn't just an endless row of casts, takes and landings.

But like when looking in car magazines, it's always more fun to read about Aston Martins, Lamborghinis and Ferraris even though you drive a modest Opel or a Ford every day, fishing DVD's are also more fun to watch when they show continuous action, big fish and great weather rather than endlessly long and boring days with wind and rain.
If we want to be skunked, we can just go fishing, right?
I'm not accusing Nick Reygaert of manipulating, but for the sake of us viewers, I'm sure he has concentrated reality a bit.

The DVD is of course breathtakingly beautiful as always when Nick is behind the camera. Iceland is not New Zealand or Tasmania, and the barren and treeless vistas in Iceland are a far cry from the lush and rich landscapes of the gems between the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific.
This alone makes a difference. Iceland has it's own beauty, but it's not saturated with color and dense like the temperate rainforest. Reygaert still manages to present it as beautiful and fascinating as it is, and already in the intro where the ferry sails along the cliffs we get the impression of a rough place. And we get to see Iceland from its tougher side: wind, rain, clouds and rough days. But we also see the best of the island.

Through a series of chapters covering the different fish you can catch up there: salmon, brown trout, arctic char and sea trout, we see the fishing in Iceland from its best side. We meet the guys, Nick himself, Craig Rist, Stjani Ben, and Paul Proctor who all tell about their relation to the Icelandic fishing and fish on camera. Each talks about the fishing from both a general an personal perspective. You may want action rather than talk, but this is in suitable doses and sets things in perspective.

As usual the video is top notch although just a single notch below the quality we saw in the epic Tasmania and New Zealand Source films. I still have a grudge against the use of slow and time lapse, but I'm willing to forgive as I have said before. But in spite of the very high quality, this video doesn't quite kick me in the same way as the two previous DVD's did, which doesn't make it in anyway bad, but just not as good as the previous ones.
For people who don't know Iceland it's a fabulous introduction to this fairyland fishing destination. For the rest of us it's a testament to how good the fishing can be on the volcanic island in the Atlantic.

Comments

I agree Martin, I was present at the presentation of the film(s) during the fly fishing film festival in Rotterdam where Nick told us his stories about making the films. This particular one took 6 weeks. And yes, there were days that there was no fishing possible due to the weather; in August mind you!! I have been in Iceland a couple of time for business (I work for Eimskip, the Iceland Steamship co.) and my experience is that, as well in Spring as in Autumn, you can experience gorgeous days with sunshine, no wind, deep blue skies and reasonable temperatures. If you are lucky to fish on such days, there is hardly anything better. Even if you would not catch anything, the beauty of this country is breathtaking and will make it worthwhile to just be there!